Portable skating-rink.



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J. F. LAYTHAM. PORTABLE SKATING RINK.

APPLICATION FILED FEB. 19,1908.

Patented Nov. 10, 1908.

3 SHBETSSIIBET 2- UNITED STATES PATENT OFFICE.

PORTABLE SKATING-BIN K.

Specification of Letters Patent.

Patented Nov. 10, 1908.

Application filed February 19, 1908. Serial No. 416,775.

To all whom it may concern:

Be it known that I, JAMES F. LAYTHAM, a citizen of the United States,residing at Blaine, in the county of Whatcom and State of I/Vashington,have invented a new and useful Portable Skating-Rink, of which thefollowing is a specification.

This invention relates to portable skating rinks its object being toprovide a structure which can be readily set up or taken apart and whichhas its parts securely fastened together in a simple and efficientmanner so as to reduce vibration to the minimum and present a solidunyielding floor.

A further object is to provide a platform made up of interlockingsections all of which are designed to be firmly held together by meansof a single securing device.

Another object is to provide a skating rink or platform having sectionalseats combined therewith, said seats being fastened together and to theplatform in a novel manner.

With these and other objects in view the invention consists of certainnovel features of construction and combinations of parts which will behereinafter more fully described and pointed out in the claims.

In the accompanying drawings is shown the preferred form of theinvention.

I11 said drawin s: Figure 1 is a plan view of the skating rink, portionsof the platform being broken away. Fig. 2 is an enlarged plan view of aportion of the platform and showing in plan the connection between thefloor timbers and the hub. Fig. 3 is a detail view of one of the floorsections, a portion of the floor being broken away. Fig. 4 is a sideelevation of a part of the platform and showing the binding means, oneof the seat sections being shown in rear elevation. Fig. 5 is a verticalsection through a portion of the platform and showing the binding meansand its receiving grooves, said section being taken in front of the seatsection shown in Fig. 4. Fig. 6 is a transverse section through one ofthe seat sections and the adjoining portion of the platform. Fig. 7 is aperspective view showing the means for connecting the seat sections toone of the floor support ing timbers.

Referring to the figures by characters of reference, 1 designates acenter block or hub having mortises 2 extending thereinto and designedto receive tenons 3 formed at the inner ends of radial beams 4 each ofwhich has a longitudinal groove 5 in each side face.

. are seated within grooves 5.

Each beam 4 is provided with a plurality of transverse mortises 6designed to receive the ends of joists 7, the upper faces of which aredisposed flush with the lower walls of the grooves 5 as indicatedparticularly in Figs. 4, 5 and 6.

A plurality of floor sections are used in connection with the framestructure hereinbefore described and each of these floor sectionsconsists of converging beams 8 each having a longitudinal tongue 9 uponits outer face so that when the floor section is placed upon the joists7 and shifted toward the hub 1 these beams 8 will fit snugly against theinner or adjoining faces of'beams 4 and the tongues 9 will project intothe grooves 5. An intermediate beam 10 is also used in connection witheach floor section and secured upon these beams 8 and 10 is flooring 11,the edge portions of which are designed to lap and bear upon the beams 4when tongues 9 All of the floor sections are so proportioned that whenthey are assembled the flooring of each section will abut against theflooring of the adjoining sections. The tongues 9 will obviously preventthe flooring from pulling upward from the beams 4 and therefore a smoothskating surface will be produced. Each flooring section has a raisedarcuate platform 11 disposed along its peripheral portion and eachsection is preferably provided with a railing 12. When the various floorsections are assembled these raised sections 11 will form a continuouscircular foot platform and the several railings 12 will form acontinuous partition or railing about the skating surface. These raisedsections 11 are preferably fixedly connected to the beams 8 and 10 andare not removable therefrom. The railings can, however, be detachablysecured to the sections 11 in any preferred manner. In order that thevarious sections of the platform may be securely bound together eachbeam 4 has a transverse groove 13 in its upper surface and the ends ofthe beams 8 assume positions partly across the ends of these grooves asindicated in Fig.1. Beams 10 are also provided with transverse grooves14. Seated within the grooves 13 and 14 is a cable 15 having its endsfastened to screw threaded rods 16 which are engaged by a turn-buckle 17whereby the rods can be drawn toward each other to reduce the diameterof the binding means and cause said means to push inwardly upon the endsof beams 8 and form, one of these upon the inner walls of the grooves 13and 14. All arts of the platform will therefore be firm y fastenedtogether without the use of nails or similar fastening means. Asindicated in Figs. 1 and 2 a circular railing 18 is preferably arrangedupon the platform adj a.- cent the center thereof, said railing beingmade up of sections which are detachably secured to the platformsections in any suitable manner. The space surrounded by this railing isdesigned to be used by an orchestra or can be employed for any otherdesired purpose.

In order that the structure may be pro vided with seating accommodationsseat sections are used in connection with the platsections beingprovided for each platform section. Each seat section consists of endstandards 19 having their outer faces cut away at their lower endsindicated at 20 so as to form shoulders 21 designed to rest upon the endportions of beams adjoining 4 while the lower end of the standard restsagainst one side face of the beam. These standards support a seat 22 andan intermediate standard 23 is preferably positioned under this seat anddesigned to rest upon the middle beam 10 of the platform section. Theseat sections when assembled upon the beams 4 and 10 form a continuouscircle around the platform, the standards 19 of the sections contactingabove the beams 4. These standards are designed to be fastened togetherin any preferred man ner but preferably by means of U-shaped couplingdevices 24, the end )ortions of which are designed to be inserteddownwardly into sockets or recesses formed in the upper ends of thestandards 19 as indicated in Fig. 7. When the parts are thus fastenedtogether it will be apparent that a continuous circular seat is formedwhich can not be displaced.

When it is desired to take apart the platform the sections are firstdetached from one another by withdrawing the coupling devices 24 fromengagement therewith whereupon said sections can be moved from theirpositions upon the beams 4 and 10. A turnbuckle 17 is then uncoupledfrom the rods 16 and the binding device withdrawn from the grooves 13and 14. As soon as the parts have thus been unfastened the platformsections can be slid outward from between the beams 4, after which thejoists 7 can be removed. In order to facilitate the removal of thejoists those of the joists disposed between two of the beams 4 arepreferably capable of sufficient longitudinal movement within themortises 6 to permit the ends of the joists to be withdrawn from themortises. After the joists have been removed from between two of thebeams 4 the remainder of them can obviously be easily withdrawn and thebeams 4 can be removed from engagement with the hub 1. It will be seenthat after the parts have been taken apart as herein described they canbe stored in a comparatively small space and readily transported.

Importance is attached to the fact that in the construction described itis unnecessary to use any nails or similar fastening devices and afterthe parts have been assembled they can all be securely tied togethersimply by using the binding device 1516-17.

What is claimed is: 1. In a collapsible platform the combination with acenter block and longitudinally grooved beams radiating therefrom anddetachably connected thereto; of platform sections comprising convergingbeams, longitudinal tongues thereon for engagement with the grooves, andflooring secured upon said converging beams and lapping and resting uponthe grooved beams, said tongues and grooved beams cooperating to bindthe flooring upon the grooved beams.

2. In a collapsible platform the combination with a center block andlongitudinally grooved beams radiating therefrom and detachablyconnected thereto of platform sections comprising converging beams,longitudinal tongues thereon for engagement with the grooves, flooringsecured upon said converging beams and lapping and resting upon thegrooved beams, and joists detachably engaging and connecting the radialbeams and constituting supports for the converging beams of the floorsections, said tongues and the grooved radiating beams cooperating tobind the flooring upon said radiating beams.

3. In a collapsible platform the combination with a center block andlongitudinally grooved beams radiating therefrom and detachablyconnected thereto; of platform sections. comprising converging beams,longitudinal tongues thereon for engagement with the grooves, flooringsecured upon said converging beams and lapping and resting upon thegrooved beams, and contractible means bearing against the radial andflooring beams for binding the parts together.

4. In a collapsible platform the combination with a center block andlongitudinally grooved beams radiating therefrom and detachablyconnected thereto; of platform sections comprising converging beams,longitudinal tongues thereon for engagement with the grooves, flooringsecured upon said converging beams and lapping and resting upon thegrooved beams, said radial beams having transverse grooves, andcontractible means bearing against the ends of the beams of the floorsections and seated within the grooves,

r) tachably connected thereto; of platform sections comprisingconverging beams, longitudinal tongues thereon for engagement with thegrooves, flooring secured upon said converging beams and lapping andresting upon the grooved beams, arcuate seat sections bearing upon theouter ends of the radial beams, and coupling devices for connecting theends of said sections together.

6. The combination with a center block and longitudinally grooved beamsradiating therefrom and detachably connected thereto; of floor sectionsinsertible between said beams and in engagement with the groovesthereof, supporting joists interposed between and engaging the radialbeams, and contractible binding means engaging the radial beams andbearing against the floor sections for forcing said sections toward thecenter block.

7. The combination with a center block and radial beams detachablyconnected thereto; of wedge-like floor sections interposed between andengaging the beams, and contractible means engaging the beams andbearing upon the outer ends of the floor sections for binding saidsections between the beams.

8. The combination with a center block and radial beams detachablyconnected thereto, said beams having longitudinal grooves; of oistsinterposed between and detachably connected to said beams, floorsections mounted upon the oists, each section comprising convergingbeams having longitudinal tongues disposed to be seated within thegrooves, and flooring upon said tongued beams disposed to lap and bearupon the radial beams the tongues and the grooved beams cooperating tobind the flooring upon the grooved beams.

9. The combination with a center block and radial beams detachablyconnected thereto, said beams having longitudinal grooves; of joistsinterposed. between and detachably connected to said beams, floorsections mounted upon the joists, each section comprising convergingbeams having longitudinal tongues disposed to be seated within thegrooves, flooring upon said tongued beams disposed to lap and bear uponthe radial beams, arcuate seat sections, each sec tion consisting of endstandards mounted upon and extending between the radial beams, and aseat supported by said standards, and coupling devices detachablyengaging the adjoining end standards.

10. The combination with a sectional platform comprising beams and floorsections detachably connected thereto of a seat including standards eachdisposed to bear upon and to lap one side of a beam, and U-shapedcoupling devices projecting into the standards of the adjoining sectionsfor holding said sections against separation, the adjoining standards ofsaid sections straddling their supporting beam.

In testimony that I claim the foregoing as my own, I have hereto affixedmy signature in the presence of two witnesses.

JAMES F. LAYTHAM.

VVi tnesses S. B. HUenEs, A. Y. SEELY.

